


To Be Free

by Impala_Chick



Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Crossover, Daemons, Episode Remix, Gen, Non Consensual Daemon Touching, POV Female Character, Rescue, Strong Female Characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 23:52:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16356659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Impala_Chick/pseuds/Impala_Chick
Summary: Alex and her Daemon are in danger, but Jodi and her Daemon aren't afraid to get their hands dirty to protect them.An alternate version of episode 9.19.





	To Be Free

**Author's Note:**

  * For [freudiancascade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/freudiancascade/gifts).



“Andrew, stop,” Alex whispered, her voice ragged. Her daemon was currently in the form of a ferret. His fur was silvery and soft under her fingertips, but he kept trying to push himself under her jacket, to get closer to her. 

“Momma is gonna come back down here. We have to get out of here. I’ll hide under your jacket. There’s a door-” Andrew was still trying to boss her around, his voice stern. 

“Don’t you see? We can’t escape her. She’s made up her mind about us,” Alex hissed. Andrew looked up at her, his eyes terrified. He scooted away from her, and his body swirled and morphed into a tiny white mouse.

“There’s something wrong-” But Andrew fell silent mid-sentence. Alex heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and shrank away in fear. Andrew scurried into her coat pocket. 

Momma hadn’t been upstairs long, but Alex had heard loud bangs upstairs, like there had been a fight. Now, she could see Momma as she stepped onto the bottom step. Her voice was loud enough to fill the entire basement. 

“Alex, darlin’. Come on, sit up. I’ve got a new idea.” She came and sat on the edge of the bed, and Alex reluctantly sat up to face her. She could feel Andrew pushing against her through her pocket, and she put her hand over him to shush him.

“I know ya’ can’t get rid of your annoying little pet, but what if I had a way to make you a vampire? You always said you couldn’t become one because it would hurt him, but now there’s a machine that can separate you two. I hear it’s painless.” Momma grinned like she was a genius. Alex’s heart constricted. Separation?

“What are you talking about, Momma?” Alex looked down then, and saw the handcuffs in Momma’s hands. 

"There’s a place up north that will do it. They’ve been doing it for months now and it’s been working. This is will free you, child!” Her eyes were bright and feverish. Alex could see there was no way to dissuade her.

“I don’t want to be free from Andrew. He’s my-” Alex faltered. She didn’t know how to describe her daemon to someone who had never had one. Her bond with Andrew was impossible to put into words, but there was no way to even imagine life without him.

Andrew was quivering under her palm.

“Well, where is he anyway? Just let me talk to him, maybe he’ll get that this could be great for all of us,” Momma said gently. But her eyes were still alight with something terrible. 

“NO!” Andrew roared as he shoved Alex’s hand away and flew out of her palm. He emerged as a huge black crow, and dove for Momma. He flapped his wings hard and dug his claws into her arm. She yelled and stood up, flapping her arm to get Andrew away from her. Andrew let go and charged again, his beak pecking at Momma’s face.

“Andrew!” Alex said weakly. She didn’t want him to stop, but she was afraid Momma would hurt him. Momma had never touched him before, but Andrew had never attacked her. Alex seemed to see it happen in slow motion. Momma’s hand reached out as Andrew dove in again, and her fingers closed around Andrew’s neck.

Alex gasped with pain as she watched Momma tighten her grip. Andrew was gasping for air, his eyes bulging. He swirled and changed into a mouse, and then a snake, and then a salamander, but Momma kept a grip on him. Alex fell to her knees, her hands clawing at her throat. She was so shocked by Momma's actions that she could do nothing. The pain in her throat was intense.

“Please,” she gasped. She felt her eyes filling up with tears as she watched, hopeless. 

She didn’t even notice Jodi come down the stairs. Caeser, Jodi’s cheetah daemon, charged at Momma and slammed his body into her back. She fell forward, and her hand dropped Andrew in order to cushion her fall. Alex dove towards Andrew and picked him up to clutch him to her chest. He was still a salamander, his skin smooth and damp.

“Shh, shh,” Alex whispered through her tears. She watched as Caeser bared his teeth at Momma. He looked much different than when Alex had met him before. He had almost looked like a cat before, so demure and quiet. But now, Caeser looked huge and terrifying, and his hair was standing up on his back. His dark spots where bright against his shiny yellow fur. In the face of such a powerful creature, Momma just laughed wickedly at him, and Alex shuddered. That’s when she noticed Jodi standing over both of them, looking stoic and composed even though she had a huge black eye. 

“What have you done to her?” Jodi asked as Caeser growled at her. Momma struggled to a sitting position. 

“She’s mine. You don’t get to ease your grief with her,” Momma snarled.

Andrew leapt from Alex’s hands, and changed into a huge black crow again just before he would have hit the ground. He soared upwards, so that he was eye level with Jodi. “She wanted to separate us! She was going to take me away!” 

“I know.” Jodi looked at Alex as she answered, her eyes sad. Alex realized there was something bigger going on, something much more sinister. What Momma had said must have been true. There _was_ a place they were separating children from their daemons.

“Baby, don’t watch this,” Jodi said to Alex before she turned back to Momma, a huge blade gripped in her right hand. Alex glanced over at Caeser, whose teeth looked huge and terrifying. He was staring intently at Momma, who was staring back at him. They were at a standoff and everyone seemed to be holding their breath.

Until Momma leapt forward, her hands stretched towards Caeser. Alex turned away, knowing what was going to happen.

“Do it!” Andrew screamed. Alex heard Caeser snarl, and then she heard a thud as Momma’s body hit the floor.

Alex thought she would feel anger, or fear, or sadness. Or even relief. But she just felt… empty. 

She turned around slowly, and Andrew had turned into an orange tabby cat. He leapt up into her arms, and Alex stroked his fur. She looked over at Jodi, and saw Momma’s body in her peripheral vision, her head chopped off. 

It was over.

\--- 

Alex sat in the bed upstairs after, staring at her hands. Andrew kept watch over her. The two brothers she had met earlier had checked in on them in the basement, and had helped them walk back upstairs. But it all happened in such a rush, and Alex was still processing what had happened. Alex didn’t even remember what their daemons looked like. 

“Seriously, you need to calm down. I can feel you staring,” Alex chastised her daemon. Andrew huffed, and in a swirl of motion he was a black lab puppy.

“I know, it’s just. I still feel the adrenaline, like I can’t sit still. But you know what? I like Jodi. And Caeser. I think we’re safe.” Andrew smiled at her with his puppy dog face, and Alex laughed.

“I think so too,” Alex murmed as she pet his head. It was a weird feeling, being safe. Her limbs all felt heavy, like she could lay awake for hours and think about nothing. She didn’t have to constantly listen for the approach of a family member, or cover her ears from the violent, gurgling sounds of vampires feeding, or arrange outfits and smooth makeup over her bite marks. The freedom was foreign to her, but it wasn’t unwelcome. 

Jodi knocked on the door before she entered, and Caeser cautiously poked his head inside and then followed behind. 

“Hi,” she said. Jodi was always so calm. Alex relaxed against the headboard, surprised that she had tensed up in the first place. Andrew hopped down off the bed, now in the shape of a monkey, and threw his arms around Caeser’s spotted neck. 

“Thank you,” Andrew said against Caeser’s fur. Caeser tucked his chin against Andrew to return the hug. 

“It is strange that your daemon hasn’t settled yet,” Caeser said, looking at Alex curiously. Her first instinct was to get defensive, but Caeser’s eyes were kind. She kept picturing his teeth bared from before, but he looked at her with an open and honest expression now, and Alex relaxed again. Andrew stepped away from Caeser, a smile on his face. He was practically beaming. 

“I don’t think -” Jodi started, and then paused. “I think they just need time. We can give you both that, if you would like. Whatever you need, we will give you.” Jodi touched Caeser’s head as she said this, and he leaned up into her touch. Alex hadn’t been around many adult daemons, since none of her vampire family had daemons of their own. Jodi and Caeser looked so in tune with each other that Alex nearly envied them. She wondered if that was what she and Andrew would look like when she grew up.

Then she felt Andrew hop back onto the bed, a black raven again. He nodded at her, but waited for her to speak. 

“Jodi, you’ve already done so much for us,” she said as she turned to look at Jodi. “But we would love to stay if you’ll let us.” Alex reached out and touched Andrew, and she felt him sigh with relief. 

“But first, I want to know everything you know about that place where they separate daemons and children.” Andrew spoke directly at Caeser, his raven eyes intent. 

“It can wait until after you rest,” Caeser replied quickly. Alex stared at Andrew. She knew how he was when he got like this. He wasn’t going to let it go.

“For now, let’s eat something,” Jodi said softly. Alex eagerly agreed. She just wanted to soak in Jodi’s calm energy. Jodi and Caeser left the room, and Alex turned to Andrew.

“Really?” She was annoyed that he would bring something like that up so soon. They should be trying to fit in after everything Jodi and Caeser had done for them.

“You’ve got to be a little bit curious.” His face looked sad again, like he was trying to imagine such a horrible place. Alex shuddered for a moment, imagining it too. How bleak and terrible such a place must feel. 

“Let’s just lay low for a little while. We finally have this change to be normal. Later, we’ll find out what we can.” Alex got up off the bed, her hand on her hip.

Andrew nodded, and she pet his head. For now, they were safe. Jodi and Caeser had given them that, and Alex wasn’t going to take that for granted.


End file.
